Nigeria Customs signs MoU with China to enhance trade

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China (GACC) aimed at fostering a bilateral relationship that will enhance trade and drive economic growth.

Leading some of his management team in Shenzhen, China where the pact was signed, Adewale Adeniyi, Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC) said the bilateral affiliation will boost the two countries’ import-export operations and favour the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria.

The CGC commended Wang Lingjun, Vice Minister of the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China, for showing interest in signing MoU with the NCS. He also applauded the recent exponential rise in the development of e-commerce, adding, “We know a lot of Nigerian companies and SMEs take advantage of the opportunities aided through e-commerce.”

Adeniyi expressed optimism that the NCS-GACC Memorandum of Understanding will serve as a critical component of cooperative security and trade relationship between the two nation’s Customs agencies, reiterating that “The relationship will create a cooperative mechanism for NCS and the GACC to collaborate on supply chain security standards and enhance the economic stability of both nations.”

“These are some of the many reasons why Nigeria Customs Service pays attention to what is happening in China. As you have said, China is making the biggest trade in Nigeria, and the basic context of International Trade is ‘your export is our import’. I appreciate the numbers that you gain in Nigeria. But it is also common knowledge that those numbers sometimes must take account of the large volume of informal trade that exists between us,” Adeniyi said.

On his part, Wang Lingjun of the General Administration of Customs, who represented Vice Minister Sun Yuning, and signed the MoU on behalf of the People’s Republic of China, expressed satisfaction over Adeniyi’s vision for the Nigerian customs.

He was optimistic that the affiliation between the two agencies would serve as a mechanism for creating opportunities that Nigeria and China share on a wide range of economic issues and trade facilitation.